5 to-dos to attract lateral hires

5 to-dos to attract lateral hires

Posted by Chris van Mossevelde on 15/07/2013

by Maria Waddington

Finding exceptional talent can be hard, especially within the tech and digital field. At Universum, we pay particular attention to the people that build our world class organization. In some cases you need individuals that have a specific skill or competency that can make a running start. But they probably have a great job for another great employer. That’s where lateral hiring comes in: targeting employees from other similar employers and attracting them to your organization. So how should it be done? Well…

Aim for the stars – Of course a lateral hire should be a great performer. It makes no sense to lateral hire an underperformer. Use your current network and employees to refer people within their network. Great people know other great people.

Investigate – You want to completely understand what makes them tick before you make contact. It’s amazing what you can learn from social media and a Google search.

Make them itch – The best individuals won’t be looking for a job actively, but they will be open to solving their current issues. Figure out what their issues are and how you can solve them. For example, do they want to work globally, have a faster career progression, stronger marketing support, etc.?

Differentiate your approach – Be innovative in how you approach these candidates, as they probably have a lot of recruiters pounding on their doors.

Be fair – It is of course really important to not mislead them into an employment – be honest and fair.

About the author:Maria Waddington is the Group HR Manager at Universum. She has a background working with recruitment and as a management consultant within HR and Talent Management. Please send her an email if you have any questions. maria.waddington@universum.se